Classroom Management in the Digital Age

Dowd, Heather, and Patrick Green. Classroom Management in the Digital Age. Digital image. Classroom Management in the Digital Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2017.

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My awesome fellow Integrator and #ETCoach, Anita Moose, recently organized a book study for the book Classroom Management in the Digital Age. If you haven't yet checked out this amazing resource I recommend you go grab yourself a copy right away and get reading as this school year begins to hit full stride.

One aspect of the book I really liked was its lack of focus on a specific technology or device. With so many options out there for schools and classrooms it's great to see a focus on the strategies and skills needed to be successful in any classroom that is technology-rich regardless of type of device or tool. 

Here are some of my take-aways from the book:

• Culture Setting (pg. 21) - When using technology setting a culture of success is so important. There are many things to take into consideration when trying to create a positive culture, but some of the key points are defining your digital citizenship expectations or acceptable use policy (AUP). It's also important to define your school-wide culture as well as your classroom culture. These two items absolutely feed off each other and need to work together and get buy-in from teachers and students. When a positive culture is created to embrace the use of technology to help teachers teach and students learn you are setting yourself up for success.
• Avoid Teacher Techno Panic  (pg. 22) - "Teacher Techno Panic" is a common problem in most districts. There's a lot of points of failure in using edtech and thought of a well planned, engaging lesson falling flat makes most teachers cringe. Having an analog (traditional) activity planned as back-up always gives you a safety-net and tremendously ups the odds of everything going off without a hitch.
• Dealing with Distraction (pg. 34) - Technology is a powerful tool, but it has also created an inherent distraction as we all try and multi-task. This is a crucial skill to teach our students. Most importantly, the concept multi-tasking is a myth, we can't do multiple things at once we can only divert our attention from one task to another often making things take much longer than if we focused on one at a time. There are some great (and simple!) strategies in the book to help you support your students in dealing with the distractions that can come with the use of tech.
• Create Engaging Lessons (pg. 45) -  As stated in the book, "Of all the strategies we share in this book, this is the best one." and I whole-heatedly agree! With or without technology a teacher cannot expect success without some thoughtful planning of engaging lessons for your students. Avoiding "Google-able" questions so students have to "...analyze, evaluate, and create." Making sure your technology use is for the purpose of creation which is  infinitely more engaging will greatly help your lessons. Giving the students choice in what and how they participate in a lesson is another key area in creating a engaging lesson. A student will always do more when they are given more and as a teacher you are tasked with building parameters that will allow them that power but stay focused on the goal. 
• Partnering with Parents (pg. 63) - As with most things with students, you cannot be successful unless you have both the students and their parents support. It's important to remember that many parents went through their education with the lack of technology (though this is quickly changing) and will need support and explanation of what is happening. Using a variety of communication tools is paramount. Traditional Newsletters, social media, and open houses in a combination are great avenues to let parents know what's going on. Some of the most important elements to communicate are the "why" and the "what". The "why" is the bigger reasons for what you are doing in your classroom. Why are you using devices, why is your classroom designed the way it is, why are you teaching the curriculum, etc.. The "what" is less nebulous and over-arching, but still very important. What are your classroom expectations, what does your curriculum cover, what class activities did you do today? Getting your students on board is one task, but getting their parents in lock-step with what you are trying to do will make you unstoppable!

Those are a just a few of the great topics in this guide, but having your own copy on hand gives you access to a library of strategies with far more depth. My partner, Anita, arranged a hour long twitter chat with the authors and members of her book study, below you will find some highlights of the conversation, but the entirety of the chat can be found using the hashtag #CMDigitalAge.  Not only is it important to reflect on these ideas and strategies, but collaborating with fellow educators can help move the design process along for shaping your policy and expectations.

Join us tonight, 7PM MST for a Twitter Chat about classroom management in the digital age. #CMDigitalAge @AspenSchoolDist #tetcoaches pic.twitter.com/ak0Fs6z0qr

— Anita Moose (@amooseIT) August 23, 2017

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A1 Heather in St. Paul, Minnesota. Teacher, Tech Coach, and co-author of #CMDigitalAge with @pgreensoup. THANKS for joining us!!

— Heather Dowd (@heza) August 24, 2017

A1 Patrick here from Singapore. I'm co-author of #CMDigitalAge EdTech Coordinator and Site Director of @GOAlearning at #sasedu

— Patrick Green (@pgreensoup) August 24, 2017

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A2: making sure Ts don't feel overwhelmed to use tech for tech sake and find meaningful purpose for curriculum! #CMDigitalAge https://t.co/qK2xEWHwkk

— Evan OBranovic (@EvanOBranovic) August 24, 2017

A2 Sometimes we roll out the tech quickly without putting thought into planning for it. We need to prepare and plan. #CMDigitalAge

— Heather Dowd (@heza) August 24, 2017

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A3 Attention Signal: I like to holler "Head's Up!" and then wait, but the expectations are most important to reinforce. #CMDigitalAge pic.twitter.com/cB3er1PstD

— Patrick Green (@pgreensoup) August 24, 2017

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A3: I love to get students attention by starting a video, funniest first... Then hit with the engage vid for the lesson #CMDigitalAge

— Lisa Highfill (@lhighfill) August 24, 2017

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Be flexible, just like we teachers always have to be!! #CMDigitalAge https://t.co/KABqRiT29e

— Heather Dowd (@heza) August 24, 2017

There's nothing quite like the real thing, so consider picking up yourself a copy of Classroom Management in the Digital Age and join the conversation on twitter at #CMDigitalAge. Please comment below on any of your highlights from this resource.